


Summer Sun, Something's Begun

by jamsconesandjohnlock



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Beach Holidays, Coming Out, Fluff, Holiday Resort, M/M, Merlin being a dork, Summer Holiday, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-07-22 05:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7421266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamsconesandjohnlock/pseuds/jamsconesandjohnlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a harsh break-up Arthur is dragged away to a holiday resort by Morgana. He is determined that it is a bad idea and he won't enjoy himself, but after meeting a ridiculous and yet very handsome bartender he begins to think perhaps he was wrong. Maybe this holiday won't be so terrible after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Merlin Emrys leaned an elbow against the bar of The Paradise Island restaurant, propping up his chin with a slender hand as he sighed and wished someone else could take his place so that he wouldn’t have to work the four-thirty till close shift on a Friday night. He had already been in the eaterie for three hours watching the gentle ebb and flow of customers, groups of people having an early dinner and those who had been sat on a stool since the bar had opened, their cheeks slowly filling with colour as their celebratory “I’m away from home and I don’t have to do anything until the meeting tomorrow” bottle of wine emptied. He scanned the dining area which was starting to fill up with the usual selection of smartly dressed individuals, as rush hour for catering staff quickly approached. Massaging his forehead between two fingers, Merlin sighed. Tonight was going to be a long night and he already knew it.  
"Whisky and Coke and a large glass of Merlot please." Merlin was awoken from his daydream by the instruction from the other side of the bar.  
"Uh yes of course," he answered, paying no attention to the person who'd asked him. He went about the task as he did every night, slight smile plastered on his face while he poured drinks, paying minimal attention to the task in hand. His mind often wandering to all of the exciting things he could be doing if he weren’t so desperately in need of the money that this job provided.  
"Here you go- oh shit!" Merlin exclaimed as the glass hit the bar, sloshing it's contents all over the muscular blond who, he now noticed, was staring at him, as a flush of anger spread gradually over his cheeks.  
"I'm so so sorry!" The bartender exclaimed, he had frozen like a rabbit in the headlights, abnormally sticky-out ears glowing beetroot red.  
"Well, aren't you going to get a cloth or something to fix this mess?" The man growled at him.  
"Oh yes, of course, I'm so sorry." Merlin spun around grabbing the nearest cloth which he then passed to the man, wishing the ground would just swallow him up.  
He watched as the angry, wine covered blond tried to dab at his previously pristine shirt to remove some of the stain, he didn’t seem to be having any success. Merlin now noticed that he was stunning: he had broad shoulders and the shirt was pulling tightly across them, clinging to him somewhat from the liquid, revealing his well maintained, muscular defined torso. It was unusual to see someone so amazing in The Paradise, which usually attracted over spray-tanned business people who were escaping from the city or couples running away for a lustful weekend with their lovers hoping that their partner’s wouldn't figure out that something was off when they came back from their “work conference” happier and significantly more tanned than they had been when they left.  
"Why did he have to be beautiful, I spilt a fucking drink over the most gorgeous man to ever enter this bar." His head grumbled to him.  
"I'll pay for these," Merlin managed to mumble out, "I can not believe I just did that." he was blushing all over. "I hope you have a good night sir, I'm so so sorry."  
The man picked up his drink, muttering a polite but unnecessary ‘thank you' under his breath, leaving the glowing bartender behind him. Merlin watched him leave, cursing at himself for being such an idiot, he then saw the man sit down opposite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Dark flowing hair styled so that it rippled gracefully down her back over the beautiful emerald dress she was wearing. She took the glass from the man and Merlin watched as she looked up and down his shirt before cocking her head quizzically to one side as her partner explained, animatedly, what had happen. The barman had to make himself look busy as they both glanced over at him.  
The rest of the night went by devastatingly slowly, the scene was constantly replaying in Merlin's brain as he tried to come up with different ways in which he could have made more of a fool of himself than he already had, but the only other scenario he could think of involved fire or Fifi, his miniature poodle finding a great attraction to his leg. He couldn't help but keep looking over at the pair as they enjoyed the three course meal which the waiter brought over to them, conversation seemed to flow naturally between the two causing Merlin to feel the ache of loneliness deep in his stomach, wishing that he had someone he could talk to for hours without a dull moment. Merlin had never truly known what it was like to have friends, he had been moved around a lot as a child and so it had always been difficult to form friendships and relationships were an even more complicated story.  
Blinking rapidly Merlin brought himself back to reality realising he'd been slipping into subconsciousness as he leaned against the bar gazing in the direction of the couple, who had now noticed him staring and were staring back. Quickly he turned away, shaking his head. Why was he such an emotional mess tonight?  
He decided the best thing to do was to actually focus on his job for once so he busied himself with collecting empty glasses from tables, ensuring this time he didn't spill or break anything, before turning his back to the couple as he sunk his hands into the soapy water in the sink- never before had he valued the proprietors distinct aversion to just getting a commercial glasswasher.  
He was just hanging the last of the wine glasses up onto the rack when the couple finally meandered out of the restaurant arm in arm, Merlin smiled vaguely in their direction before turning away once more, desperately trying to pretend that it was not a pang of jealousy that he felt in his stomach because he was not the one giggling with that perfect blond.  
"Oh well, it's not like I would ever be able to look him in the eye now even if he were single, and interested in dorky big eared males." He grumbled as he closed up the till and headed into the back room to grab his belongings from the locker.  
-  
_I knew letting Morgana drag me here was a bad idea. ___  
Arthur thought through the events of the day as he lay on top of the covers of his king size hotel bed. Firstly he'd let himself be dragged halfway around the world by his ever-so-persuasive half sister and before the first twenty-four hours were over some idiot disguised as a bartender had spilt a drink all over him. If this first day was anything to go by, he was in for the worst holiday ever.  
-  
Most of the night was spent tossing and turning, Arthur was unable to shut off the constant replay of the last few weeks which was whizzing around in his mind. Whenever his eyes fluttered shut, the sound of slamming doors and screaming echoed between his ears. He thought he would have seen the break-up coming, yes they had argued a lot, but he could never have imagined Eva saying the words she had:  
"I'm so sorry Arthur, this just isn't working out," he remembered the way he had stared back in a stunned silence.  
"I've found someone else, I can't stay here anymore and pretend."  
She had already packed her bags, leaving Arthur stood with his feet firmly rooted to the spot, staring after her as the door slammed and echoed through the house. Maybe he should have seen it coming, but nothing could ever have prepared him for the black hole Eva took behind her when she left.  
He clenched the bedsheets in his fists, squeezing his eyes tight shut to try and pretend that his eyes weren’t slowly filling with tears. Why does she have this effect on me? Even now.  
Eventually sleep took a hold over Arthur, although it felt like he had only been under the covers for a matter of minutes when he was awoken by the sound of yapping outside his room. Leaning over to grab his tracksuit bottoms from beside his bed, he stretched out his back allowing the pain from a disturbed sleep fall away. Yawning, he wandered towards his balcony wondering what on earth was happening outside.  
It was already a beautiful day, the sight of the rolling waves and white sand visible from the balcony was enough to make him forget for a moment all the stressors that were plaguing his life. He was brought back to mixed up reality by a voice from down below him-  
"Fifi! Will you be quiet?!"  
Arthur was greeted with a sight that made him chuckle, somewhat unwillingly. The bartender from the night before was attempting to walk an extremely fluffy, white dog who, quite clearly, had other ideas about the route for their journey.  
"For goodness sake! I'm going to have to carry you if you keep on like this! You'll wake everyone up."  
"Morning." Arthur shouted down from his balcony cheerily, such a hilarious sight first thing in the morning having royally lifted his spirits.  
Merlin was taken by surprise and jumped a little at the voice.  
"Hi!" He waved, then, noticing the man from the night before, he blushed and mumbled an "oh hello" under his breath.  
"You seem determined to disturb my peaceful holiday." The blond smirked down at him.  
"Well, technically, this disturbance is not my fault - come here Fifi." He grabbed the dog and tucked her under his arm. "Maybe you bring it upon yourself!" Merlin flashed a grin, the widest, silliest smile Arthur had ever seen, there for a split second and then replaced with the bartender rehearsed smiled he'd worn the night before. Still, that grin was enough to make Arthur chuckle and shake his head.  
"You don't know the half of it," he huffed, scrubbing a hand through his hair making it stick out at all angles. The pair stood for a few seconds in silence, looking at each other both quite uncertain of what to do now. Fifi took this as an opportunity to put her escape plan into action, kicking into Merlin's stomach she leapt out of his grip and began to sprint off.  
"Oh my gosh! Fifi come back here!" The man began to sprint after the dog, only turning back to shout to over his shoulder to Arthur. "Don't get too many drinks thrown at you today, sir!" Then he was off, chasing the ball of fluff who'd decided that this was some kind of fun new game.  
Arthur stared at the pair as they ambled about on the sand, he was laughing to himself when Morgana appeared next to him, having let herself in.  
"Good morning!" She yawned.  
"Hello," Arthur smiled in response.  
"And why are you so happy?" She shot him a very curious look.  
He gave one last look over to where the, still nameless, barman had successfully caught his canine and glanced back to Morgana.  
"Oh no reason," He chuckled. "I'm just enjoying the view."  
His half-sister smirked to his side, still feeling somewhat confused but agreeing with herself that she should just let Arthur be happy for a bit seeing as he had been in such a distressed state only days beforehand.


	2. Chapter 2

“It’s important to keep looking after yourself.” Morgana reminded Arthur as he began to complain about the day that his half-sister had planned for him. Adventure Days had been a thing in the Pendragon household since Arthur could remember, he had been dragged to goodness knows how many places in order to “make himself feel better” even though he had never once requested the outing. It had been years since the last so-called Adventure Day took place but Morgana had decided that it was time for the hiatus to end, she knew that Arthur needed it even if he wasn’t willing to accept it himself.  
The day ahead was, in Morgana’s eyes, a day of ultimate relaxation. A mid morning walk on the beach before heading off to the spa for hot stone massage and sauna treatment.  
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Arthur did enjoy the day more than he had imagined. He returned to his room feeling as though all of the tension from the past month, that had built up in his shoulders, had just slipped away. It was the longest he had managed to go to without dwelling on his breakup, not once had he thought “I wonder if Eva would have enjoyed this” nor had he wondered where she was or what she was doing. Maybe, he wondered to himself, maybe it was possible for him to get through this.

-

The final step of Morgana’s plan was to walk down into the village, that was adjacent to the resort, to take in the culture and experience some of the local food.  
It was getting on for seven when Morgana knocked on Arthur’s door to signify that it was time for the last stage to begin. He straightened his shirt and checked his hair quickly in the mirror, ensuring it was all in perfect alignment, although he wasn’t sure why because he definitely wasn’t trying to impress anyone this evening. Reaching for his blazer, which was laying across the back of his chair, he rested it over his arm and stepped out to greet his half-sister.  
“Good evening.” She smiled at him as he appeared in the hallway.  
“Hi,” He began, offering his arm as they began to make their way outside. “thank you for doing this, I know I probably protest too much but that massage earlier has given me a true sense of peace and I really am grateful.”  
“You’re welcome little bro, I’ll do anything that I can to see you smile again.”  
They walked on in comfortable silence, as they got out onto the beach the sun was low in the sky so that the skyline glowed in amber glory. This place was beautiful, there was no denying it.

The evening went by happily as the two reminisced, chatting and making jokes about things which they hadn’t talked about for many years; they were just finishing the last of their wine, having paid the bill when a smartly dressed man with close-cropped, slick black hair cautiously approached Morgana from behind. She jumped as he tapped her on the shoulder but her shock quickly turned to glee as she saw who the culprit was- “Johnny!” She squealed, jumping out of her chair to embrace the man, whom Arthur had never seen before in his life.  
“I can’t believe it’s you! Oh my goodness!” She let go of him and suddenly realised Arthur was sat there looking somewhat perplexed, “This is my brother Arthur,” she gestured towards him, “and Arthur this is Johnny who I was at university with!”  
“Nice to meet you.” Arthur responded with a polite smile, although he had never heard his name mentioned before which seemed suspicious.  
A slightly awkward silence fell upon the group, all three of them unsure of what to do next.  
“Um, do you want me to leave you two to it?” Arthur suggested after he began to feel uncomfortable. “I can wander back and let you catch up if you’d like?”  
Morgana paused before she answered, unsure whether the correct answer was yes or no. Arthur smiled at her, reassuring her that he really would be okay if she stayed. “If you wouldn’t mind Arthur that would be amazing,” she looked at her, apparent, friend. “Would you like to go for a drink?”  
“Yes I would love to!” He agreed, “If you’re certain that you don’t mind?” he turned to Arthur.  
“That’s absolutely fine!” He responded, almost too joyfully. “See you later.” He kissed his half sister on the cheek before wandering out of the restaurant.

-

Arthur padded slowly back towards the resort thinking through the event which he had just been a part of. His protective brotherly emotions were taking over him, the more he walked, the more he felt conflicted. Who was this guy who he had just left his sister with? Were they friends or had it been something else? He thought he had known everyone who had been friends with Morgana at uni because they talked about everything together but he was certain that she had never mentioned him before.  
_Maybe she had a good reason for it_ he thought _I’m sure she’ll be fine this evening anyway._  
Checking his watch and seeing that it was only just coming up to ten o’clock he decided to head into the resort bar. The combination of the confusion with his sister and the more than half a bottle of red wine he had consumed were urging him onwards.  
_If Morgana was off having a good time why shouldn’t I drink some more? I am on holiday after all and I've had a good day so why not end it on a high._ He convinced himself as he pushed open one of the heavy double doors and scanned the darkened room. The bar was quite busy, but not uncomfortably so, he walked to the far end of the bar and chose to sit at a bar stool hoping someone might have a chat with him while they ordered their drinks and at least that would give him something to do. He sat himself down and waited, staring into space, until it was his turn to get served.

“What can I get for you?” A cheery voice asked him from across the counter. He looked up to find the wide grin of the tender from the night before looking back at him. “Oh hello!” he somehow managed to smile even wider when he recognised Arthur.  
“Hey, um, just a pint of Foster’s please.” He responded.  
“Of course, coming right up!” The tender turned away to fetch Arthur’s drink. After a few minutes he came back and handed over the glass, Arthur took a long drink and handed over the money to pay for it.  
“Thank you.” He said with a smile.  
“You’re very welcome.” There was a pause for a second as he checked to make sure that no one was waiting to be served. “I just realised that I introduced my dog to you this morning but I never introduced myself! My name is Merlin and I truly am very, incredibly sorry for spilling a drink on you yesterday.”  
Arthur chuckled, extending a hand in his direction. “It’s honestly no bother,” he responded “I’m Arthur, nice to meet you.”  
As their hands shook Arthur looked the newly introduced Merlin up and down, he resonated happiness, with such bright eyes and scruffy dark hair that stuck up a bit at the back where he had obviously been running his hands through it during his shift. Blinking, Arthur realised he may have been looking at him and shaking his hand for a bit too long. Lifting his gaze from where Merlin’s long fingers gripped his to the man’s face, he watched as Merlin glanced behind him. He dropped Arthur’s hand and, seeing that the bar was getting busier again, he headed off towards the awaiting customers to start serving again.  
“Talk to you later!” He said with a grin as he turned away, immediately switching back into work mode as he greeted a large stern-looking man in a business suit who was drumming his fingers impatiently against the bar.

Arthur followed Merlin with his eyes as he walked away, smiling as he took another swig of his lager. He noticed the way that he seemed almost to skipped over to the customers, hips swaying slightly and a spring in his step. Arthur couldn’t help but look at the man, for some reason he found him fascinating and he was overcome with a desire to get to know him better which unnerved him somewhat. It had been a long time since he had last had a longing to really talk with anyone, let alone a complete stranger.  
Shaking his head as if to try and dislodge the thoughts, he set his concentration on finishing his drink, maybe more alcohol would help him to make sense of all his emotions.  
_Surely it couldn’t make me any more confused._ He figured, as he surveyed his surroundings and drained more of his beer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Once again, I have no beta so all mistakes are my own and any comments are very welcome! In case you couldn't tell drunk Arthur is coming soon and I'm very excited about it! Hopefully chapter three will be up within the next week, depending on how much progress I make. I hope you're all enjoying it so far, thanks again!


	3. Chapter 3

As the bell rang for last orders Arthur knew he had been right about one thing, more alcohol hadn’t made him any more confused, it had just made the whole world a lot more fuzzy and his cheeks a lot warmer. Over the last hour he had somehow managed to drink another two pints and a good number of shots of tequila which he had shared with a cheery woman in a bright red dress who had told him he “looked lonely” sat by himself so she had kept him company for a while. When he explained that he had been left by the person he had come out with, she took pity on him and agreed that more alcohol would help.  
Now, he slumped slightly on his barstool and waved an empty pint glass in the direction of Merlin who laughed as he walked towards the very rosey cheeked blond.  
“Are you sure you want more to drink?” He questioned when he reached Arthur.  
“Just shut up and get me more beer.” Came the response from the other side of the bar.  
“Ooh okay bossy!” Merlin feigned shock as he went off to pour Arthur his drink. “Here you go,” he sighed as he passed the drink over to him. “Maybe don’t drink this as quickly as you did the last one, I have enough to be doing without having to scoop you up off the floor when I lock up tonight.”  
“Yeah yeah whatever,” Arthur grinned wickedly before downing almost half a pint, staring at Merlin all the while.  
“Typical,” the bar tender rolled his eyes for dramatic effect “it’s always the pretty ones you have to look out for!” He walked off towards the booths to begin collecting up empty glasses.  
“Hmph” Arthur grumbled to himself. “How rude…” he trailed off as he registered what the man had said to him and a stupid grin grew on his face.

“Pretty!” He exclaimed, as Merlin returned to the bar balancing a lot of glassware. “You called me pretty!” He giggled to himself.  
“I don’t think I did,” Merlin grinned as his started piling up glasses next to the sink where his colleague was already washing up, sneaking a wink to Gwen who was arm deep in soap suds. “You’re too drunk mate, you must be making stuff up.”  
He turned to face the till, shutting it down for the day, a grin still plastered on his face as he glanced at the blond who seemed to be getting worked up.  
“Now you listen here,” He stood, or tried to before realising he was a bit wobbly on his feet and therefore had to support himself on the bar.  
“I don’t like being messed around,” He pointed animatedly at Merlin. “And I think you are messing me around which is very,” he paused and downed the rest of his drink, slamming the glass down for effect “-very rude!”  
“Okay pal,” Merlin responded with mock sincerity “I am truly sorry for messing you around, I didn’t mean to be rude.”  
“Alright, whatever,” Arthur sulked, the excess alcohol from the last pint suddenly hitting him. “I’m too sleepy to try and fight you, but I would... and I would win.”  
“I’m certain that you would!” Arthur didn’t hear as Merlin whispered to Gwen “If you could manage to stand up straight.”  
“Good. I’m glad we agree on that.” As he flopped straight over, laying his torso on the bar, arms folded beneath him.  
“You may win in a fight, but don’t you dare fall asleep on that bar Mister.” Merlin prodded him in the arm.  
“I’m not sleeping… just having a rest...” he trailed off.  
Merlin turned to Gwen raising an eyebrow, she nodded, agreeing that it was alright if Merlin headed off leaving her to lock up so he could get the man back to his room. They had developed this code over time as they regularly had to help people get home after one too many.  
“Come on then Arthur, let’s get you back to your room.”

*

It took some time for the pair to make it across the resort and into the hotel block where Arthur was staying. The beach was quiet, only a few stragglers remained out on the walkways and the moon was high in the sky, reflecting onto the sea which glittered in the starlight. It would have been a beautiful moment if one of the two men hadn’t been bending under the weight of the other. Merlin had soon discovered that dragging an increasingly droopy, muscular man all the way from the bar was quite a challenge. Usually when drunk people had to be assisted back it was because they were unsteady on their feet and weren’t certain that they knew the way back but Arthur was a different story- with every step they took he seemed closer and closer to collapsing onto the floor, curling up into a ball and falling asleep. 

By the time they reached the hotel lobby, while Merlin was trying to figure out Arthur’s room number from the strange groaning which now constituted for his speech, the blond was flopped on the stairs with his head lolling from side to side. Eventually Merlin resorted to just diving into Arthur’s jacket pockets where he successfully found his key card almost straight away. After walking over and pressing the button to call the lift, he heaved Arthur up off the steps and managed to get him slumped in the corner of the carriage when the doors slid shut and they jolted upwards.

Once Merlin had reached room 3E as the key card had informed him (more efficiently than his companion’s garbled speech) he heard the door click as the card was recognised and he pushed the door open. Arthur seemed to have found his last store of energy by then and he stumbled in and collapsed on the bed without Merlin’s assistance. Having glanced briefly around the room Merlin turned to go but Arthur called after him before he made it to the exit.  
“Thank you,” His voice muffled by the pillow his head was half buried in. “I’m really sorry you had to do this.”  
“It’s okay,” Merlin said with a slight smile. “It happens more often than you would think so don’t worry.”  
“Okay.” Arthur murmured, “I’m not making a very good impression of how great I am though.” He was almost asleep as he said those words, and Merlin decided to leave him to let him get some rest.  
“You’d be surprised.” He muttered mostly to himself as the heavy door clicked shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Sorry it's taken me a while to get this up, I'm still not sure I'm completely happy with this chapter but I'm going away for two weeks tomorrow and I wanted to make sure I got a chapter up before I left so I hope you enjoy it! As always any mistakes are my fault as I don't have a beta and any comments are much appreciated! There won't be another chapter for a while simply because I'm away doing charity work and I don't think I'll get then chance so please be patient with me :)


	4. Chapter 4

The sun blinked through a crack in Arthur’s bedroom curtains and he groaned, hand immediately reaching to shield his eyes from the light which felt like it was blinding him. He rolled over and buried his face into the soft down of his pillow as he attempted to shut out the world once more. After a few minutes passed his peace was disturbed when there was a loud rapping at his hotel room door.  
“Coming” He shouted as he went to sling on his dressing gown, before realising that he was still wearing his outfit from last night. Cursing under his breath he reached instead for a jumper which was thrown over the back of a chair, pulling it over his head and attempting to flatten his hair he took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Moooorrrning!” Morgana grinned as the bedraggled form of her half-brother emerged from behind the heavy white door. “Woah, what happened to you?!” she enquired, even though Arthur’s state could only be more obvious if he had the words “Hungover” written across his forehead in indelible ink.  
“Ugh, I was wondering the very same thing,” He grumbled in response, leaning on the doorframe for support. “I think I spent a bit too much quality time with my old friend alcohol.”  
“Hmm yeah looks like it, I was just knocking to see if you wanted to adventure but seems to me like a shower is on the cards for you before anything else!”  
“Yeah, that’s true, hopefully it’ll help me to shake some of the cotton wool that seems to be filling my head. I’ll get myself feeling human again and then give you a knock?”  
“Okay sounds wonderful!” Morgana responded as she turned and skipped back down the corridor to her room.

-  
It took just over an hour for Arthur to regain some feeling of normality. He spent a long time in the shower, feeling the fuzziness in his head clear as the hot water splashed down on him. If he thought too hard about it he became all too aware that his emotions were all over the place. He knew to a certain extent that was okay, he was allowed to be, but that didn’t make him hate it any less. He felt ashamed of the state he’d allowed himself to get into the night before, in front of someone he barely new and yet who he felt a strange connection to. But that could easily just be his mind going wild again, he considered, stepping out of the steam and wrapping a thick white towel around his waist.  
Emotions are such little dicks. He concluded with himself as he towelled his hair into messy-but-acceptable style. As he pulled on a tight white t-shirt and stepped into his favourite denim knee-length shorts (just tight enough to make his arse look fab, even if he did think so himself), he decided that that was enough dwelling for today. He was on this holiday to have fun and to forget, so today he was going to do just that even if it killed him.

Feeling altogether much less foggy headed, Arthur headed out of his hotel room to go and meet Morgana, they decided to wander to the resort coffee shop to help shake off the last of Arthur’s hangover as well as have a debrief about how the night before had been.  
Sipping a cappuccino and listening to his half-sister tell him all about the wonderful night she had had, Arthur found himself paying more attention to the clear blue sky and bright sand which could be seen from the window- more precisely he was concluding quite how strange it was to be drinking a Starbucks whilst at the seaside, but hey that’s holidays for you he guessed. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Morgana’s night, he did and it thrilled him to see that she was so happy, but he couldn’t help but feel a strange mixture of protective instinct, due to her inability to fully disclose how she knew this man, and a pang of jealousy. It was stupid and he knew that but it didn’t stop his mind from wandering.  
Blinking back into reality he was suddenly aware that his half-sister had finished talking and was looking at him expectantly, he had no idea what she had asked him. Obviously his confusion was plain to see as she quickly prompted him.  
“So you wouldn’t mind if I saw Johnny again this evening? I know we said we’d spend the time together but you seem to be getting along alright anyway.” With this she nodded her head ever so slightly to the outside of the coffee shop where low and behold the lanky silhouette of Merlin could be seen rushing passed.  
Choosing to ignore Morgana’s comment, and praying that the blush he felt rising in his chest wasn’t actually visible across his cheeks, Arthur quickly nodded, agreeing that he wouldn’t mind as long as she paid for brunch the next day.

Arthur spent most of the rest of the day relaxing, that was what he was here for after all. He spent several hours just lounging on the beach before deciding it was time to test out the pool. After a good swim, something he hadn’t had the chance to do for far too long, he headed back to his room for another shower - because if you aren’t allowed to shower more than once a day on holiday, when are you?  
Once he had completely run out of things to do in his hotel room, a challenge which largely consisted of letting himself check what he’d missed on social media, catching up on his emails and scrolling meaninglessly through Instagram, Arthur pulled on his old University sweatshirt and headed out for a stroll along the beach. The sun was setting low over the sea, painting the sky in a glorious ombré of red through to purple, he sighed as he looked out at the seemingly endless ocean and smiled to himself, truly appreciating the complete sense of peace that fell upon him as he came to a stop by a bench in the sand. He sat down, enjoying the warm breeze that was blowing, wondering why it was that the beach itself was so empty as it was only just nine-thirty, but being grateful that it was even though everyone was missing out on something beautiful.

Arthur had no idea how long he had been sat on the bench, contemplating his life, but for the first time in a long while it felt more hopeful than upsetting. He felt as though he was the only person on the beach for miles until he was brought back to reality by a little white furry creature who galloped over and took great delight in the laces of Arthur’s trainers.  
“Hello,” he grinned to himself, scratching the poodle on behind the ear as she carried on with her new favourite game, wondering where her owner had got to - not because he knew who that was and would really like to see him of course no that has nothing to do with it.  
“Oh my goodness I’m so sorry!” The bartender’s voice came out of the darkness behind him. “She’s an absolute fiend for shoelaces- Fifi, get off come on!”  
“It’s fine don’t worry about it, I’m glad of the attention,” Arthur chuckled. “She doesn’t seem to be doing a great deal of damage anyway.”  
“Well okay if you’re sure,” The note of apology still plain in Merlin’s voice as he slumped down on the bench beside Arthur.  
“Not at all,” Responded Arthur as he desperately tried not to think about the closeness of the man next to him, busying himself with the dog at his feet as a distraction.  
“You’re feeling alright after last night then?” Merlin enquired, only a slight touch of cheek to his question. Arthur groaned in response having momentarily forgotten that he had made an absolute fool out of himself.  
“Yeah, gosh sorry about that,” he muttered as Fifi wandered off to look at an interesting plant in the sand, he was left to stare at his hands as he rested them on his knees, he couldn’t quite figure out why eye contact felt so difficult. “It’s been a rough couple of months, and apparently last night was the night I chose to let it all out, alone, in a bar on some island, in front of a man I barely know.”  
“Honestly it’s alright,” he said as he gently placed a hand on Arthur’s wrist, making his heart jump embarrassingly in his chest, “I understand and you really don’t need to apologise.”  
Arthur’s eyes flicked up to meet his for a second and he smiled slightly before returning his attention to his hands, which were now a lot more distracting as Merlin was gently rubbing circles at the base of his thumb, he wondered if he even meant to be or if it had just kind of happened and Merlin now didn’t know how to back out of it.

The pair sat in silence for a while, Merlin keeping an eye on his miniature poodle even though he knew she wouldn’t be far away. He wondered if he should have taken his hand off Arthur’s but somehow it felt right, it felt natural.  
“If you wanted to talk about it, you know you can, right?” The words had slipped out of his mouth before he’d really realised what he’d said. “N-not that you have to or anything I’m not trying to force you into pouring your heart out to some random dude on a beach.” He was suddenly embarrassed he didn’t want to ruin anything or upset Arthur in anyway, but thankfully Arthur replied as he slipped his hand around Merlin’s on his knee, intertwining their fingers.  
“Thanks, I don’t know,” he paused, contemplating whether anything he was doing or saying was a good idea but deciding that it felt good and he didn’t want to ruin anything, “it’s just that, well, break ups are just shit aren’t they?”  
“Amen to that,” Merlin replied as Arthur shifted and rested his head lightly on his shoulder, the smell of his aftershave filling his nose.  
“Breakups are shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My goodness it has been SUCH a long time since I last updated! But I'm trying super hard to get back in to writing and I realised how much I loved what I have planned for this story so I'm attempting to pick it back up again! Hope you enjoyed it, if you have any thoughts please do pop me a comment :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite a short one, but I'm quite happy with how it's turned out and I didn't want to make it longer for the sake of it. I hope you enjoy it!

Arthur had absolutely no idea how long they had been sat together on the bench for, his head resting on Merlin's shoulder, their hands intertwined between them, as they watched the gentle ebb and flow of the tide. He wished they could sit that way for as long as possible putting a halt to real life, while it was just the two of them and the waves. The sun had almost completely disappeared and with it the temperature had fallen quite dramatically, before long Arthur felt Merlin start to shiver gently beside him, his thin hoodie doing very little to protect him from the cold wind that was blowing in.  
"We should get moving, before you freeze to death." Arthur's voice seemed to boom as it broke through the silence. “Besides it’s getting quite dark and I only got about three hours of sleep last night.” He stifled a yawn, realising quite how exhausted he was.  
“And who’s fault was that?” Merlin chuckled as he showed his agreement to Arthur’s former statement by rising from the bench, jumping up and down in the sand to get some heat into his limbs. Fifi came bounding up in the darkness at the sight of her master making a move, fluffy tail waggling excitedly as she ran circles around the couple as they began to make their way back to the resort.  
They walked side by side, the only sound that could be heard was the waves splashing against the sand and the distant thrum of a thudding bassline from the bar. As they walked Arthur wondered to himself what was meant to happen next, he didn’t know where he stood in this situation at all, firstly it seemed that he was quickly falling into some kind of holiday romance – which was not the reason he came out here by any stretch of the imagination – and secondly he was genuinely experiencing the most extreme crush he’d felt in a very long time, on a guy, which prompted a lot more emotions that he thought he’d put away in previous years. It had been his first year at uni when Arthur had first realised that heterosexual wasn’t the right term for him (which came about through mostly through a ridiculously drunken and messy encounter with one of his close friends), but he’d never truly “come out”. As he’d spend time considering his identity and he was just starting to think that perhaps he should tell people that bisexual was a more accurate term for his orientation, he’d met Eva and everything had carried on from there until the present with no questions asked. He had been so wrapped up in their whirlwind of a relationship with all its ups and downs that he’d had no real chance to consider whether he would ever even be single again let alone whether he would ever be able to explore having any kind of relationship with a man. Now that he was single once more he supposed there was nothing to stop him from trying anything out, but, he admitted to himself, the idea of it was still irrationally terrifying. But things change and he’d just have to wait and see what would happen. All that Arthur knew currently was, that right at that very moment he felt the more contended and relaxed than he had done in a long time and he really didn’t want that to change.

Before long they had arrived at the courtyard which separated the hotel blocks from the rest of the resort complex. It was a large patio area with a water feature at the center, the paths were lined with solar powered lights which glowed dimly. Numerous tall palm trees with sparkling LEDs wrapped around their trunks, trailing from one to the next were surrounding the whole area so that it twinkled gently even when there were no stars to be seen. Several groups and couples could be seen stumbling out of the bar in the direction of their hotel suites. Arthur was sure that one of the people he saw was Morgana, her long dark hair flowing behind her like something out of a movie as she wandered arm in arm with a man who looked suspiciously like the mysterious Johnny. Arthur pushed the thoughts from his mind – besides she’s an adult and allowed to do whatever she pleases, he reasoned with himself.  
The pair came to a halt in front of the fountain, Merlin turned to face Arthur, his outline silhouetted by the twinkling lights behind him, his sticky-out ears and ridiculously high cheekbones highlighted beautifully in the half-light. They stood with their bodies parallel to one another, their feet almost toe-to-toe. At some point over the walk their hands had found each other’s again and now they were both linked loosely together (Fifi’s leash only slightly ruining the effect), exploring the feel of each other’s hand in their own.  
"I guess I should be heading back to my flat," Merlin said as he scuffed his foot on the concrete paving slab below their feet. "I've got to work the breakfast shift tomorrow to cover for a friend which means being up before 5."  
"Ouch," Arthur exclaimed. "that doesn't sounds like much fun at all.”  
"I don't know, but sometimes the job does have it's perks." A coy smile tugged at his lips.  
"But yeah of course,” Arthur continued, trying to ignore Merlin’s comment. “head off that’s no problem at all, don't let me keep you."  
"I'm sorry but I really do have to," he paused. "I've had a really nice time though, I hope you don't mind me having joined you."  
"No not at all, I've enjoyed it too, and honestly thank you, for everything you've said."  
Merlin responded by stepping forward, closing the gap between them where they stood, raising up on his tiptoes slightly, he placed a gently kiss at the corner of Arthur’s mouth.  
"It was my pleasure." He said as he dropped back down on to his heels and turned away, smiling.  
“See you later!” He said cheerfully as he walked away from Arthur with Fifi trotting at his heels.  
For a while Arthur watched the slender shape of him disappear appear into the darkness, almost laughing to himself at how this man had somehow made him regress back to being a teenager again. He was thankful for the darkness that hid how red his cheeks were and the stupid grin he had on his face. Once Merlin had gone from view, Arthur turned on his heels and wandered back towards his hotel room, hands stuffed in his pockets. He really didn’t know where things were going to go from here but as he got himself ready for bed he realised that he was damn well ready to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Any thoughts and comments would be much appreciated, I don't have a beta so any mistakes are my own silly fault.


End file.
